Hatchway-door mechanism



W. I. ELY. Hatohway Door Mechanism.

No. 227,421. Patented May 11,1880

Mrs TATES WILLIAM I. ELY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

HATCHWAY-DOOR MECHANISM.

SBECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 227,421, dated May 11,1880,

Application filed November 25, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM I. ELY, of Detroit, county of Wayne, Stateof Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mechanism forAutomatically Opening and Closing Hatchway-Doors; and I declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, suchas will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to makeand use it, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, which forma part of this specification.

My invention consists in the combination of devices and appliances, ashereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view of the elevator either in its ascentor descent, just above the hatchway Fig. 2, as it appears after havingpassed below the hatchway, and showing in dotted lines the elevatorready to descend. Fig. 3 represents the door as assisted to start fromits horizontal position; Fig. 4, the same as assisted by the samemechanism to start from its vertical position.

In the drawings, A represents the difi'erent floors; B, the uprights orways along which the elevator slides as it rises and descends. G is anelevator.

It is immaterial what construction of elevator is employed, as myinvention is designed for ready application to any elevator mechan- Drepresents one of the hatchway-doors.

I will now describe my opening and closing mechanism.

E is a suitable shield or arm attached to or forming part of thecarriage, and is so arranged as to press against and lift thehatchway-door D on its hinges d as the elevator rises. F is a suitablecord or chain, attached to the door at f, passed thence about thepulleys f and f and from the latter down and attached to the peripheryof a wheel or segment, G. From I this wheel or segment extends an arm,Gr, provided, preferably,with an anti-friction roller, g, at itsextremity. The operation of this portion of my hatchway-door mechanismwill now be understood.

As the elevator rises it opens the door D by the pressure of theelevator cage or shield E. At the same time the door, in opening, slackson the arm G rests against the side of the cage or against a suitablecheek-piece, 0, attached to the cage, thus preventing the door fromfallin g shut by keeping the cord or chain F taut.

As the elevator rises past the wheel 9 the latterrides in beneath theelevator, thus gradually permitting the arm G and its wheel or segmentto revolve and unwind the cord or chain F, and thus permitting the doorD to close gradually down to its place. The same operation is repeatedprecisely at the hatchways above, the mechanism for each door beingentirely independent of the others. On the descent of the elevator theoperation is reversed. The arm G, standing at its highest point, isstruck by the elevatoras it descends. The arm G is thrust down, thusturning its wheel or segment G and drawing upon the cord F, which, inturn, opens the hatchway-door beneath. After the elevator passes the armG it is already adjacent to the hatch way-door, which is prevented fromclosing by the cage itself or the shield E. In the further descent ofthe elevator the door, continuing to rest against the cage or shield,drops slowly into its closed position as the elevator passes downthrough the hatchway.

It is evident that as the elevator rises its greatest efiort in openingthe door above is expended in starting the door from its horizontalposition, since in that position it resists with its greatest leverage.So, also, in the downward motion of the elevator, the greatest strainupon the cable or chain F is exerted in starting the door from 'itshorizontal position. On the other hand, it is apparent that as the doorrises on its hinges it is liable to come up with a jerk against the sideof the casin g, and if its gravity were the sole agent for closing it,it might fail to start and close after the elevator had passed.

I provide a simple expedient to overcome all these difficulties. Itconsists of a cable or chain, H, attached to the top of the door, passedthence over a pulley, h, at a distance above the floor equal to thedistance from the point of attachment h to the hinge d, more or less.The cord passes thence downward through the floor, at which point itsuspends a weight, H. This weight is almost sufficient of itself to liftthe door from its horizontal position, and serves to assist the elevatorin thus starting the door, whether in the ascent or descent of theelevator. So, again, when the door is partially raised this cord andweight operate in the reverse direction, or in a direction to close thedoor, so that when the cage has passed it forces the door shut asrapidly as the cord F is unwound from the wheel or segment Gr. Anothereffect of the cord H and its weight is to hold all the parts onatension, and thus prevent them from rattling, and affording a smooth,steady, and positive action of the doors.

I do not limit myself, in the employment of my invention, tohatchway-doors composed of a single leaf hinged at the side or rear, butit is equally applicable to hatchways having two doors which are closedin the middle. In the latter case all that is necessaryis that the doorsbe each provided with similar opening and closing mechanism.

The bottom of the elevator may or may not be provided with anti-frictionrollers to reduce to a minimum the wear upon it by the arms G. So, also,there may or may not be provided anti-friction rollers D on the underside of the hatchway-door to receive the wear occasioned by theelevator-cage or its shield E.

What I claim is- The combination, with a downwardly-closin g door of ahatchway, of a weight, H, cord or chain H, and pulley h, said cord orchain having the said weight attached to its free end,

while its opposite end is attached to the'door' between its hinged andfree ends, the cord or chain passing over the pulley h, located abovethe door, and between its hinged and free ends, to cause the weight toassist in opening and closing the door, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM I. ELY.

Witnesses:

WM. M. PORTER, W. O. BELLOWS.

